In robotically-assisted surgery, the surgeon typically operates a master controller to control the motion of surgical instruments at the surgical site from a location that may be remote from the patient (e.g., across the operating room, in a different room or a completely different building from the patient). The master controller usually includes one or more hand input devices, such as handheld wrist gimbals, joysticks, exoskeletal gloves, handpieces or the like, which are operatively coupled to the surgical instruments through a controller with servo motors for articulating the instruments' position and orientation at the surgical site. The servo motors are typically part of an electromechanical device or surgical manipulator arm (“the slave”) that includes a plurality of joints, linkages, etc., that are connected together to support and control the surgical instruments that have been introduced directly into an open surgical site or through trocar sleeves inserted through incisions into a body cavity, such as the patient's abdomen. Depending on the surgical procedure, there are available a variety of surgical instruments, such as tissue graspers, needle drivers, electrosurgical cautery probes, etc., to perform various functions for the surgeon, e.g., retracting tissue, holding or driving a needle, suturing, grasping a blood vessel, or dissecting, cauterizing or coagulating tissue.
This method of performing telerobotic surgery through remote manipulation has created many new challenges. One such challenge is providing the surgeon with the ability to accurately “feel” the tissue that is being manipulated by the surgical instrument via the robotic manipulator. The surgeon must rely on indications of the forces applied by the instruments or sutures. It is desirable to sense the forces applied to the tip of the instrument, such as an end effector (e.g., jaws, grasper, blades, etc.) of robotic endoscopic surgical instruments, in order to feed the forces back to the surgeon user through the system hand controls or by other means such as visual display or audible tone.
A surgeon may employ a large number of different surgical instruments/tools during a procedure. Some of the surgical instruments may include fiber optic force sensors on multiple optic fibers, and it is desirable to make a reliable and robust optical connection with the surgical system when the instrument is electrically and mechanically mounted to the robotic manipulator. It is also desirable to combine the signals from multiple sensor fibers into one fiber to improve optical connection.
What is needed, therefore, are improved telerobotic systems, apparatus, and methods for remotely controlling surgical instruments at a surgical site on/in a patient. In particular, these systems, apparatus, and methods should be configured to provide accurate feedback of forces to the surgeon to improve user awareness and control of the instruments and manipulator.